There Is No Cheap Swiss Vignette: CHF 40 Flat in 2026
Switzerland sells one motorway pass: CHF 40, valid 14 months from 1 December. One crossing costs as much as a year, and driving without it is CHF 200.
Switzerland sells one motorway vignette: CHF 40, valid 1 December to 31 January 14 months later, with no short-term version. Driving without it costs CHF 200 plus the vignette.
Switzerland is the country where one day’s crossing and a full year cost exactly the same. There is a single motorway vignette at CHF 40, with none of the short-term versions Austria, Slovenia and Czechia sell, and it stays valid for 14 months — from 1 December of the year before the one printed on it to 31 January of the year after. Buy the plate-linked e-vignette online or the windscreen sticker from a post office, petrol station or automobile club; the price is identical either way. Caught on a motorway or expressway without one, you pay CHF 200 and still have to buy the vignette.
One price, no short-term pass
The Swiss vignette costs a flat CHF 40. The federal customs office puts it plainly: unlike other European countries, Switzerland does not have a short-stay vignette. It covers the entire motorway and expressway network, and trailers need their own (except those towed by motorcycles). Motorhomes up to 3.5 tonnes need a vignette; heavier ones pay the lump-sum heavy vehicle charge instead.
Sticker or e-vignette — both CHF 40
- e-vignette (since 1 August 2023) — bought online at e-vignette.ch, linked to your number plate, valid immediately, nothing to display.
- Adhesive sticker — linked to the vehicle; sold at post offices, most petrol stations and garages, TCS outlets and licensing offices in Switzerland, and through automobile clubs abroad. Border customs offices sell it only in exceptional cases, so do not count on buying it at the crossing.
Either way it’s CHF 40. Third-party sites may add a handling fee to the e-vignette; the federal webshop does not.
The fine
Drive on a Swiss motorway or expressway without a valid vignette and it’s a CHF 200 fine — and you must buy a vignette or register an e-vignette on the spot. Customs officers and the police stop vehicles at the roadside to check, and a visitor who does not pay at once must leave a deposit. A car and caravan with no vignette on either are fined twice. If a hire car is fined after the trip, see who pays a driving fine abroad.
Timing your CHF 40: the 14-month window and where it applies
Because Switzerland sells only the annual vignette, the one lever you control is when you buy it. Each vignette runs from 1 December of the previous year to 31 January of the following year. Buy in early December and you’ve stretched CHF 40 across two ski seasons and a summer; buy in mid-January and you’ll need a new one within weeks. If a trip falls in the December–January overlap, the outgoing vignette still covers you through 31 January.
For the coming season that means: the 2026 vignette stays valid until 31 January 2027, and the 2027 vignette, still CHF 40, is valid from 1 December 2026 to 31 January 2028. A driver heading to the Alps in February 2027 needs the 2027 one; for a December 2026 trip either works.
The other detail visitors miss: the charge applies to national roads of the first and second class, the motorways and the expressways (Autostrassen), both marked with green signs. Some green-signed expressways near cities and borders feel like ordinary roads, and a single junction on one without a vignette is the same offence as an hour on the A1: CHF 200, plus the CHF 40 vignette bought on the spot.
There is one narrow exception. Entering at the Basel/St-Louis, Rheinfelden or Kreuzlingen motorway customs offices, you need no vignette provided you leave the motorway at the first exit. Everywhere else, the first metre of motorway counts.
Before you drive into Switzerland
- Budget CHF 40 even for a one-day crossing — there’s no cheaper option.
- Buy the e-vignette online ahead of time, entering the plate exactly as registered, or get a sticker from an automobile club before you leave.
- Give a trailer its own vignette.
- See how Switzerland compares with the other vignette countries in our all 9 vignette countries, or check prices in the vignette calculator.
Sources
- Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (FOCBS), FAQ vignette and e-vignette: bazg.admin.ch
- FOCBS, e-vignette and adhesive vignette (price, validity, sales points): bazg.admin.ch
- FOCBS Directive 15-01, national road charge (roads subject to the charge, checks, CHF 200 fine): bazg.admin.ch (PDF)
- Official e-vignette portal: e-vignette.ch
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Frequently Asked Questions
CHF 40, and that is the only option. Switzerland has no short-stay vignette, so a single crossing costs the same as a year of driving. The vignette is valid from 1 December of the year before the one printed on it until 31 January of the year after, 14 months in all. The 2027 vignette keeps the CHF 40 price and is valid from 1 December 2026 to 31 January 2028.
Both cost CHF 40 and cover the whole network. The e-vignette, available since 1 August 2023, is bought on the federal Via portal (e-vignette.ch) and linked to your number plate, so enter the plate exactly as registered. The adhesive sticker is linked to the vehicle and sold in Switzerland at post offices, most petrol stations and garages, TCS outlets and licensing offices, and abroad through automobile clubs; customs offices at the border sell it only in exceptional cases.
The fine is CHF 200, and you must buy a vignette or register an e-vignette on the spot as well. Customs (FOCBS) officers and the police check vehicles at the roadside; a driver living outside Switzerland who does not pay at once has to leave a deposit. A car towing a trailer with no vignette on either is fined twice.
Yes. The charge applies only to national roads of the first and second class, the motorways and expressways marked with green signs, so cantonal roads are free. In practice the main transit routes are motorways and the alternatives are much slower through mountain terrain. Three border crossings, Basel/St-Louis, Rheinfelden and Kreuzlingen, let you use the motorway without a vignette if you leave at the first exit.
Online at e-vignette.ch, the Via portal of the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security, or as a sticker from an automobile club at home. Third parties may add handling fees to the e-vignette, and the federal office recommends its own webshop; for the sticker, surcharges on the official price are not permitted.